John e



(No Model.)

J. E. POINDEXTER.

HAIR SINGER( No. 405,502. Patented June 18, 1889.

l UNITED STATES lIATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. POINDEXTER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TOJOSEPH E. SMITH AND GEORGEM. RANDOLPH, OF SAME PLACE.

HMRI-SINGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 405,502, dated June 18,1889.

Application filed January 3l, 1889.` Serial No. 298,241. (No model.)

To all wiz/m, it may concern: the domeecap to its seat. The dome-cap isBe it known that l, JOHN E. PONDEXTER, surmounted by the elongatedburner-tube 24, of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Misthe flaringbase of which is securely attached souri, have invented a certain newand useto or may be made integral with the dome- 55 5 ful Improvement inHair-Singers, of which cap from which it rises.

the following is a full, clear, and exact de- 12 represents adraft-tube, whose iiaring scription, reference being had to theaccomcurved mouth 13 secured within the perfopanying drawings, formingpart of this speciration 14C in the side of the tubular column, cation.and whose outlet discharges on line with the 6o 1o This inventionrelates to an instrumentfor outlet of the burner-tube.

producing a sudden flash to singe and thus All parts of the structureabove described stop the tubular pores of fresh-cut hair to prearecomposed of brass or any other suitable vent wastage and weakening ofits roots; and material. the invention consists in features of novelty15 represents the iiat wick that passes 65 15 hereinafter fullydescribed, and pointed out through the slot 16 in the disk S into thealcoin the claims. hol-tank, and in front or above is curved Figure I isan elevation of my singeing-inaround the draft-tube 12, as it (the wick)is strument. Fig. II is a vertical section taken elevated and comes incontact between the on line II II, Fig. l, and shows the instrument sameand the buriier-tube that surrounds it, 7o zo in the position for using,and also shows the the curved flaring base of which guides theair-chamber, the pneumatic valve, airtub ev wick in its ascent andconducts it around said that supplies the draft for the flash, and thetube, so that as it rises or projects from the elastic rubber bulb thatcontrols the air-vent burn er-tube the part that carries the flame is tothe burner; and Fig. III is a vertical secin a circular or tubular form17, within which 75 tion taken on line IH III, Fig. Il, and shows thedraft-tube discharges the air for the efthe air-port to the valve, theair-tube that fecting of the flash.

supplies the burner, and the aperture through 18 represents an open portin the dome-cap which the wick is passed. Vfor the entrance of air intothe initial air- Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the chamber 19within the dome-cap. 8o 3o pedestal base, in which and in the tubularex- 2O represents two corrugations that project tension 2 the tank islocated that holds the outward from respectively near the base, oralcohol 3. A transverse partition-wall Ll and somewhat removedtherefrom, and from near longitudinal one 5 separate the alcoholtank thetop of the tubular column, and between from the airchamber G, and thetank and airsaid corrugations around said column is seated 85 3 5chamber together are inclosed in a tubular the expanded hollow rubberbulb 21,the said column 7, which has an air and spirit tightcorrugations holding the said bulb to its workconnection with thepedestal. At the forward ing position on the tubular column, between.end of the longitudinal partition 5 a transwhich and the expanded rubberbulb is an verse disk S closes in both the alcohol-tank operativeair-chamber 22,from whichbypress- 9o 4o and the air-chamber. ure uponsaid bulb a draft of air is forced 9 represents a dome-cap, whose inneredge through the tube 12 to revivify the flame on its within the upperor forward end of the the burner to effect a sudden flash. The saidtubular column that projects beyond the air-supply for this purposeenters in through transverse disk 8. Two pins 10, that project the openport 1S into the initial air-chamber 95 inwardly from opposite edges ofthe said exwithin the dome-cap, and from that passes tension of thetubular column, enter the anthrough the flutter-valve port into the secgle-slot 11 in the domeecap when said cap ondary air-chamber 6, fromwhich it passes is seated, and when the cap is slightly turned throughthe o pen port 25 into the third or opsaid pins enter theangle-extension of the erative air-chamber 22. roo

5o slot, so that the pins and angleslots form to- 2G is theflutter-valve, that closes the port gether tightbayonetmjoints thatsafely hold 23 when by the pressure of the operators hand on the rubberbulb there is effected a reactionary movement of the draft at said port,and 27 is the screw that attaches said Hutter-valve to the transversedisk 8. The flutter-valve is shown in full lines closed on said port inFig. Il at the time of the pressure of said bulb and in broken lines insaid figure in its inoperative position. Then the pressure having beenremoved from said bulb, the bulb expands to its normal position, thevalve opens, and the current of air freely pours or is drawn by suctiont-hrough theopen ports into the succeeding air-chambers.

28 are the screw-Stoppers, that close the supply-ports 29, through whichthe alcohol-tank is replenished.

.Now, if there is a supply of alcohol in the tank and the wick at thenozzle of the burner is lighted, (the blaze of which in its normalcondition is but a faint gli mmer,) then by pressure of the hand of theoperator on the rubberbulb the current of air is forced backward andimmediately closes the flutter-valve of the port 23, so as to utilize arequisite portion f the volulne of air that is ,stored in the operativeairchamber within the bulb to project a current through the mouth 13 ofthe tube l2 and said tube l2 to and through the nozzle of the burner,thereby effecting a quick reviviiication of the previously glimmeringblaze, thus producing a sudden flash, which is as quickly withdrawn whenthe pressure of the operators hand on the bulb is removed.

Now I will describe the useful functions of the instrument. Hair is noexception to the -rule that everything that lives and grows continuouslylighted, as there is but a glim- (whether animal or vegetable) issupplied with tubular and porous channels, through which the nutritiouselements that support life and minister to its growth are supplied tothe farthermost extremities of its being. Now, as each hair is a tubehaving the abovenamed recuperating functions, which nature carefullyguards (as she does all things well) by hermetically sealing the ends ofsaid tubes, and whereas each time the hair of the head is cutitshermetically-sealed terminals are decapitated and each hair terminatesin an open tube, which, by the exuding of its nutritious supplies, istoo great a draw on the physical energies -of the root, until in courseof time nature again steps in and again seals the tubulous pores throughwhich the waste is incurred. In the meantime the loss of energy to theroots is very large, and men, the hair cf whose heads is more frequentlycut than is that of women, are much more subject to baldness inconsequence. This prelude appears necessary to a rightI understanding ofthe functions of my hair-singer. During the active part of the day inthe barber-shop the lamp of the instrument may be mer of light at theburner, and therefore but a minimum of waste, until the light isrevivifed by the forced draft as the operator presses the rubber bulband forces the air through the tube l2, which discharges at the burner,reviviies the blaze, and produges the required sudden flash. After thehair is cut and placed in a suitable condition to operate on, theoperator holds the instrument in about the position shown in Fig. Il,with the lighted burner at the nozzle in a suitable position to the hairon which it is to operate; then by the pressure of the operators hand,as described, on the rubber bulb, and the consequent instantaneous Iiashthat it produces, the tubulous terminals of the hair are slightlysinged, and thus contracted, so as to hermetically seal the tubes andimmediately stay the waste that would otherwise ensue.

I claim as my inventionl. In a hair-singer, the combination of thetubular burner, the draft-tube that discharges at the nozzle of saidburner, the wick that projects from between said tube and tubulousburner, and the operative rubber bulb u that enforces the discharge ofair through the draft-tube to revivify the blaze at the burner andproduce an instantaneous flash, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

2. In a hair-singer, the combination of the tubular column havingcorrugations, the transverse and longitudinal partitions, the transversedisk having a wick-slot, the domecap having tubulous burner, thedraft-tube, and the rubber operative bulb, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

3. In a hair-singer, the combination of the tubular column, thetransverse and longitudinal partitions, and transverse disk S withinsaid column that, with the surrounding column, inclose and separate thealcoholtank and secondary air-chamber, the domecap E), that incloses theinit-ial air-chamber, the bayonet-fastening that secures said domecap tothe tubular column, the corrugations 20, that project from said column,the rubber operative bulb that is seated between said corrugationsaround the tubular column and incloses the operative air-chamber,between which and the secondary air-chamber is provided an open port 25,the burner-tube 24, the draft-tube with its fiaring mouth, through whichthe air is discharged from the operative air-chamber to the nozzle ofthe burner to revivify the blaze, the domecap being provided with anopen supply air-port, the

transverse disk 8 being provided with a Hut ter-valve port thatcommunicates between the initial and the secondary air-chambers, theflutter-valve that operates to open and close said port, the feed-portsthrough which the tank is replenished, and the screw-stoppers that closesaid ports, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN E. POINDEXTER.

In presence 0f- BENJN. A. KNIGHT, SAML. KNIGHT.

IIO

